Cathal Clohessy & Éamonn Costello

Bosca Ceoil and FiddleKey Stone Recordings ****

It’s not every day a debut cuts through the ether with such razor-sharp precision. This box and fiddle duo lay claim to regional styles stretching from north Connaught to west Limerick, but the most striking features of this fresh-faced collection are the idiosyncrasies of their musical personalities and the delicateness of their arrangements. The gothic grandeur of Sergeant Early’s Dream, where fiddle and box don’t so much play the tune as infiltrate its every pore, is akin to the delicate deconstruction of tunes so beloved of Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill. Costello’s box playing is impressively restrained, and his own waltz composition, Áile Dhomhain, a masterclass in minimalism. Clohessy strikes the kind of mournful tone on the Breton An Dró that haunts the subconscious long after the tune has evaporated. Pin-prick precision crossed with musical curiosity.

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